System And Method For Audibly Presenting Selected Text

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are methods for presenting speech from a selected text that is on a computing device. This method includes presenting text on a touch-sensitive display and having that text size within a threshold level so that the computing device can accurately determine the intent of the user when the user touches the touch screen. Once the user touch has been received, the computing device identifies and interprets the portion of text that is to be selected, and subsequently presents the text audibly to the user.

PRIORITY

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/943,242, filed Jul. 16, 2013, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/567,550, filed Aug. 6, 2012, whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/257,994, filedOct. 24, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,239,201, issued on Aug. 7, 2012,which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/096,787,filed Sep. 13, 2008, the content of which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to synthesizing speech and morespecifically to synthesizing speech selected from a computing device.

2. Introduction

Currently, when a person wishes to have a portion of text read out loudthat person has a limited number of ways to select the desired text.Those ways include conventional selecting of text by using mouse orother peripheral device. In some cases the user may have a voiceactivated method of selecting the desired text. Accordingly, what isneeded in the art is an improved way selecting the text that is to beaudibly presented.

SUMMARY

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Thefeatures and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained bymeans of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out inthe appended claims. These and other features of the present inventionwill become more fully apparent from the following description andappended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention asset forth herein.

Disclosed are methods for selecting speech from a computing device viatouch. Presently, there are many computing devices, including laptopsand mobile phones that are incorporating the ability to sense touch andthus complete a command. The present disclosure deals with one method ofusing touch to complete a command, namely to select text via touch andthen convert this touch selected text into a vocal representation ofthat text. Thus, the present disclosure will improve the functionalityof touch based computing devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the invention briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only exemplary embodiments of the invention and are not thereforeto be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will bedescribed and explained with additional specificity and detail throughthe use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a general embodiment of a computing device conformingto the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a computing device with a display containing text andacting in conformity with this disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a mobile device that can transfer data in conformancewith the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method claim.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the invention are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system includes a general-purposecomputing device 100, including a processing unit (CPU) 120 and a systembus 110 that couples various system components including the systemmemory such as read only memory (ROM) 140 and random access memory (RAM)150 to the processing unit 120. Other system memory 130 may be availablefor use as well. It can be appreciated that the invention may operate ona computing device with more than one CPU 120 or on a group or clusterof computing devices networked together to provide greater processingcapability. A processing unit 120 can include a general purpose CPUcontrolled by software as well as a special-purpose processor. An IntelXeon LV L7345 processor is an example of a general purpose CPU which iscontrolled by software. Particular functionality may also be built intothe design of a separate computer chip. An STMicroelectronics STA013processor is an example of a special-purpose processor which decodes MP3audio files. Of course, a processing unit includes any general purposeCPU and a module configured to control the CPU as well as aspecial-purpose processor where software is effectively incorporatedinto the actual processor design. A processing unit may essentially be acompletely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores orCPUs, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processing unitmay be symmetric or asymmetric.

The system bus 110 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basicinput/output (BIOS) stored in ROM 140 or the like, may provide the basicroutine that helps to transfer information between elements within thecomputing device 100, such as during start-up. The computing device 100further includes storage devices such as a hard disk drive 160, amagnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive or the like. Thestorage device 160 is connected to the system bus 110 by a driveinterface. The drives and the associated computer readable media providenonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules and other data for the computing device 100. In oneaspect, a hardware module that performs a particular function includesthe software component stored in a tangible computer-readable medium inconnection with the necessary hardware components, such as the CPU, bus,display, and so forth, to carry out the function. The basic componentsare known to those of skill in the art and appropriate variations arecontemplated depending on the type of device, such as whether the deviceis a small, handheld computing device, a desktop computer, or a computerserver.

Although the exemplary environment described herein employs the harddisk, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that othertypes of computer readable media which can store data that areaccessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories(RAMs), read only memory (ROM), a cable or wireless signal containing abit stream and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an inputdevice 190 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. The input maybe used by the presenter to indicate the beginning of a speech searchquery. The device output 170 can also be one or more of a number ofoutput mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In some instances,multimodal systems enable a user to provide multiple types of input tocommunicate with the computing device 100. The communications interface180 generally governs and manages the user input and system output.There is no restriction on the invention operating on any particularhardware arrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily besubstituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they aredeveloped.

For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system embodiment ispresented as comprising individual functional blocks (includingfunctional blocks labeled as a “processor”). The functions these blocksrepresent may be provided through the use of either shared or dedicatedhardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capable of executingsoftware and hardware, such as a processor, that is purpose-built tooperate as an equivalent to software executing on a general purposeprocessor. For example the functions of one or more processors presentedin FIG. 1 may be provided by a single shared processor or multipleprocessors. (Use of the term “processor” should not be construed torefer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software.)Illustrative embodiments may comprise microprocessor and/or digitalsignal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) for storingsoftware performing the operations discussed below, and random accessmemory (RAM) for storing results. Very large scale integration (VLSI)hardware embodiments, as well as custom VLSI circuitry in combinationwith a general purpose DSP circuit, may also be provided.

The logical operations of the various embodiments are implemented as:(1) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a programmable circuit within a general use computer, (2) asequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a specific-use programmable circuit; and/or (3)interconnected machine modules or program engines within theprogrammable circuits.

Having disclosed some fundamental system elements, the disclosure turnsto other embodiments. These embodiments are discussed in terms of asystem configured to practice the method. FIG. 2 illustrates a generalblock diagram that practices the basic method. Initially, the systemreceives user input 210 into computing device 200 via the touchprocessing unit 220. The touch processing unit 220 selects appropriatetext based on the user input as a registered touch. The system convertsthe text to speech through the speech generation unit 230. The computingdevice can convert the text to speech, a remote system can convert thetext to speech, the speech can be pre-converted and stored on thecomputing device, or the system can use other speech generation schemes.The computing device 200 audibly presents the vocal representation 250of the selected text to the user via the speaker 240.

FIG. 3 shows a visual representation of an embodiment practicing themethod. The computing device 300 has a touch screen 310. The touchscreen displays text made up of paragraphs. A user's hand 350 points toparagraph 330. Upon touching paragraph 330 the system selects the textand can optionally highlight the selected text. The system processesselected text through a speech generation unit 230 and outputs a vocalrepresentation 250 through a speaker 240, as shown in FIG. 2.

In one embodiment, the system accepts short pointed touches known astaps on the touch screen as an indication from the user to select text.In one aspect, the system extends this functionality to involve aselection based on the number of taps on the display 300. For example,consider a user's hand 350 tapping the display 300 two times in rapidsuccession. The system interprets the taps to mean that the user isattempting to select two of the displayed paragraphs. The paragraph neednot be currently visible. However, for illustrative purpose, allparagraphs are visible in FIG. 3. If the user wishes to select paragraph330 and paragraph 320 the user can tap once on paragraph 330 and thenmake the next successive tap between the initial tap on paragraph 330and the top of the touch sensitive display 370. This includes tapping onparagraph 330 and 320 or any point between the initial touch and the topof the display. However, if the user wishes to select paragraph 330 andparagraph 340 then the second tap would be placed anywhere between thefirst tap and the bottom of the touch sensitive display 360. The systemanalyzes selected text by the touch processing unit and processed asdescribed above.

In one aspect providing additional functionality, the system allows theuser to trace the text to be vocally reproduced. The system processesthe text contemporaneously as the user's finger touches a word. In thisway a user can select the text of individual words, phrases, sentences,or whole paragraphs. However, the system selects and outputs text inreal-time rather relying on the text for markers, such as paragraphbreaks.

In another embodiment, the system uses the number of fingers used in atap to automatically calculate the number of successive paragraphs thatthe user wishes to select. To further illustrate this idea, if a userwants to hear two paragraphs read out loud, she can simply tap twofingers simultaneously on the initial paragraph that the user wishes toselect. The system, in response, audibly produces speech for the tappedparagraph and the immediately following paragraph. Those of skill in theart will be able to scale this example to its natural constraints basedon the disclosure.

The principles disclosed herein can be adapted for use with a mobiledevice, smartphone, PDA, etc. Specifically, a mobile phone with atouch-screen can implement the method. Certain aspects of the inventioncan be modified to adapt to the smaller scale of the touch-screendisplay as compared to a full sized computer screen. In many cases, amobile device has access to data transfer capabilities, typically in theform of an Internet connection. This is a typical feature of most modemgeneral-purpose computing devices. Most home and business desktop andlaptop computers have access to the Internet. Therefore Internet accessis not illustrated, but is feature always under consideration with eachof the various embodiments. A mobile device can access a database thatcan perform the conversion of the selected text to an audible output.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of the implementation of the presentdisclosure. This embodiment contains a database removed from the mobiledevice. The mobile device transfers data to the database for processing.As shown, a touch processing unit 420 still processes the user input410, but that can be wholly or partially external to the mobile deviceas well. However, the touch processing unit 420 transfers this data to anetwork-based voice generating unit 430 that converts the text to avocal embodiment of that text. The system transfers the vocalrepresentation 450 back to the mobile device 400 for output to the userthrough the speaker 440. This is one of many ways that this particularembodiment can be implemented.

In one aspect, the system varies device commands depending on thevisibility of the text. The system can take into account the size of thetext and interpret the command accordingly. One way to accomplish thistask is setting thresholds for text size so that the program interpretsthe actions of the user in an appropriate way. One case where this isappropriate is where the text is too small to read comfortably. The usercan zoom in prior to choosing whether to have the text read aloud. Sizedesignations can take the form of actual text size in inches or metersfor instance, or in designation of between text size 8 and 14, which arecommon in word processing programs. If two thresholds are set, onelarger than the other, and the text is between these two thresholds, theprogram interprets user input as a request to audibly present the vocalrepresentation, whereas outside this range, the computing deviceinterprets the same command in a different way. This command, forinstance to zoom in or zoom out, can involve the same touch interactionswith the computing device that would represent producing the textaudibly if the command is received within the thresholds. In this waythe device can predict which actions the user wishes.

A further aspect of this disclosure is the ability to audibly representthe text in a number of different ways. A non-limiting list of ways toaudibly represent text includes at least all the following examples whenimplementing this disclosure. One of the primary ways to implement thisdisclosure is to use a Text-To-Speech (TTS) program. Another method forimplementing this disclosure is to have a pre-recorded voice that aprogram can play when a word in the text is recognized. This can behelpful if a bank of recorded words is already available via a networkor as a program on a computer. The program, in this latter example, canstitch words and phrases together to produce the selected text. Further,if it is well-known text or text that is likely to be read aloudnumerous times, whole paragraphs can be pre-produced from the text andthus produced aloud in its entirety. Finally, the program can useindividual phonemes to create the selected words, phrases, orparagraphs.

Embodiments within the scope of the present invention may also includecomputer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executableinstructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readablemedia can be any available media that can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer, including the functional design ofany special purpose processor as discussed above. By way of example, andnot limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tocarry or store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chipdesign. When information is transferred or provided over a network oranother communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, orcombination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views theconnection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.

Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions. Computer-executable instructions also includeprogram modules that are executed by computers in stand-alone or networkenvironments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,objects, components, data structures, and the functions inherent in thedesign of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executableinstructions or associated data structures represents examples ofcorresponding acts for implementing the functions described in suchsteps.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments of theinvention may be practiced in network computing environments with manytypes of computer system configurations, including personal computers,hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by localand remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwiredlinks, wireless links, or by a combination thereof) through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the invention.For example, the principles herein may be applied to a portable audiodevice or a mobile book reader that can produce spoken words from thetext, this can be helpful teaching kids to read, for example or help auser learn a foreign language. Those skilled in the art will readilyrecognize various modifications and changes that may be made to thepresent invention without following the example embodiments andapplications illustrated and described herein, and without departingfrom the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

We claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: displaying, via aprocessor, text via a touch-sensitive display; receiving, from thetouch-sensitive display, a plurality of user touches; identifying aportion of the text based on one of the user touches; identifying a setof paragraphs to audibly present based on a count of the user touches,the set of paragraphs including the portion; and audibly presenting theset of paragraphs.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the plurality of user touches are substantially simultaneous,the method further comprising: determining a number of fingers used theplurality of substantially simultaneous user touches; and identifyingthe set of paragraphs to audibly present based on the determined numberof fingers.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein audibly presenting the setof paragraphs occurs via a speaker associated with the touch-sensitivedisplay.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein audibly presenting the set ofparagraphs comprises communicating pre-recorded phonemes combinedtogether.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the touch-sensitive displayis part of a mobile phone.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the usertouches identify an area of the touch-sensitive display.
 7. A computingdevice comprising: a processor; a touch-sensitive display; and acomputer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, whenexecuted by the processor, result in the processor performing operationscomprising: displaying, via the processor, text via the touch-sensitivedisplay; receiving, from the touch-sensitive display, a plurality ofuser touches; identifying a portion of the text based on one of the usertouches; identifying a set of paragraphs to audibly present based on acount of the user touches, the set of paragraphs including the portion;and audibly presenting the set of paragraphs.
 8. The computing device ofclaim 7, wherein the plurality of user touches are substantiallysimultaneous, the operations further comprising: determining a number offingers used the plurality of substantially simultaneous user touches;and identifying the set of paragraphs to audibly present based on thedetermined number of fingers.
 9. The computing device of claim 7,wherein audibly presenting the set of paragraphs occurs via a speakerassociated with the touch-sensitive display.
 10. The computing device ofclaim 7, wherein audibly presenting the set of paragraphs comprisescommunicating pre-recorded phonemes combined together.
 11. The computingdevice of claim 7, wherein the computing device is a mobile phone. 12.The computing device of claim 7, wherein the user touches identify anarea of the touch-sensitive display.
 13. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executedby a processor perform operations comprising: displaying, via theprocessor, text via a touch-sensitive display; receiving, from thetouch-sensitive display, a plurality of user touches; identifying aportion of the text based on one of the user touches; identifying a setof paragraphs to audibly present based on a count of the user touches,the set of paragraphs including the portion; and audibly presenting theset of paragraphs.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of user touches aresubstantially simultaneous, the operations further comprising:determining a number of fingers used the plurality of substantiallysimultaneous user touches; and identifying the set of paragraphs toaudibly present based on the determined number of fingers.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, whereinaudibly presenting the set of paragraphs occurs via a speaker associatedwith the touch-sensitive display.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein audibly presentingthe set of paragraphs comprises communicating pre-recorded phonemescombined together.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 13, wherein the computing device is a mobile phone. 18.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, whereinthe user touches identify an area of the touch-sensitive display.